In 1980 when Reagan was elected President, the USSR was a military equal to the United States. The Cold War was still going strong and a huge threat to world peace and security.
Presidents from Truman to Carter fought a cold war of mainly appeasement and detente for 35 years until Reagan came along and took decisive action. His first term military build up and "Stratigic Defense Initiative", backed up with the resolution of "the" ultimate cold warrior, eventually lead to the break up of the USSR and the downfall of European communism. These are the basic facts that history will judge Ronald Reagan on. He gave us a tough foreign policy agenda and had the guts and determination to follow through with it.
On the home front Reagan inherited, from President Carter, the worst economic conditions America had seen since the Great Depression of the 1930`s. Under the leadership of President Reagan, interests rate came tumbling down, inflation was brought under control and almost 20 million new jobs were created in Reagan`s eight years in office. Reagan gave working American's real tax reform. Reagan's initial tax policy, brought down the top tax rates from 70% to 50%. Reagan signed the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which further reduced marginal tax rates. Again, through Reagan's leadership, the top rate was lowered from 50% to 28%, while adding an even lower, second rate of 15%. That was real tax reform!
Ronald Reagan won two presidential elections with overwhelming numbers in 1980 and 1984. The American people grew to admire and respect the leadership of President Ronald Reagan. Reagan's fiscal policies stabilized the economy, which led to the greatest economic expansion in history. Reagan got the military back on track and the world respected America once again.